In a 5-2 decision written by Chief Justice Patience Roggensack, the court declared the cap on noneconomic damages that was enacted in 1986 to be constitutional, overruling a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, a state appellate court and a 2005 Supreme Court decision.
As a result, Ascaris and Antonio Mayo will receive less than five percent of the $16.5 million in noneconomic damages — that is, pain and suffering and loss of companionship — that a Milwaukee County jury awarded them in 2014.
